Dependency Based on Better Communication

Opioid Dependency and Addiction Could End with Better Communication

Would you be surprised if someone you know didn’t know what LGBT stood for?  Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender may be common terms used – when you are speaking about someone’s sexual orientation and / or gender.  But what if that subject never came up for someone?  I was surprised too recently to find out someone wasn’t sure what the term meant.

The word “mortality” rate also means the death rate.  A cardiologist is a doctor who specializes in the heart and pulmonology is a specialty of the lungs.

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani thought he was free from cancer when his doctor told him his tests came out positive – mixing up the word positive to mean a good thing.

When we label this information as health literacy we are putting the responsibility completely on the patient to understand what is being said to them.  If they don’t know – that they don’t know – than how can someone possibly know what to ask?

Patients who are being discharged from the 

hospital or ambulatory setting are given pain

medication and told to take it as needed every XXX hours, up to XXX times a day (you can fill in the blanks). They leave with a medication that if they know they could become addicted or dependent, might choose not to take it at all and may decide on some other medication.

Now, think of all the ads and news about the opioid epidemic and I wonder how many people think that might not include them?

A commercial shows a man who tries his mother’s medication called Vicodin and becomes addicted.  He uses the name of the medication in the commercial and now that he is addicted, he is shown slamming his arm in a door to break it so he can get more.  The announcer uses the word opioid.  “Opioid dependence can happen after just five days”.  Why aren’t they using the name of the medication?  “Opioid dependence such as Vicodin and other pain medications can happen after just five days”.  Maybe we need to start putting these words together at discharge, at the pharmacy and in commercials to be sure that all people know that opioids is the type of medication – not the name of a medication.